The Reasons That I've Been Neglecting My Blog.

I know, I know - I have been M.I.A. lately. I apologize! Incase you were wondering what I`ve been doing with my time these days, here`s a rundown:

- Turkey Butt is no longer working his civilian job and his BMQ is only Friday to Sunday at the moment so I`ve been enjoying spending extra time with him. I especially love to watch him and Little Miss Elle interacting with each other:

Action Shot.

- A local gym was having a 10 days for $10 deal so I decided it was time I got my butt in gear and tried to lose a little baby weight. So far I`m really enjoying it and am attempting to find the money in my budget to get a membership once my 10 days are up.
- Baking. I`ve been a baking queen! It`s pretty much the only housewifely duty that I truly enjoy. Around this house you wouldn`t be hard pressed to find brown bread, chocolate brownies with peanut butter icing:

This is what happens when you cannot wait for it to cool down first...

, apple sauce, banana chocolate chip muffins, or peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes with peanut butter icing to name a few. Oh, and it is so much fun eating all of these delectable items.
- My lovely friend Jay has introduced me to this magical thing called a Diaper Co-op. Long story short, items are offered at wholesale prices if a minimum amount is ordered. I`m addicted. So addicted. I don`t even know where the money comes from that is paying for this obsession - let`s just say it is fabulous and I am never ever paying retail, for a cloth diaper or home pregnancy test or wooden toys, again. Love!
- My sweet sissy Aych had her 24th birthday on Friday. Sadly she came down with the flu and her party was postponed til Sunday night and my Mama had to miss it (she was down for the weekend). Luckily the party was still quite spectacular and well worth the extra effort that went into it.

The birthday banner that I made for her!

As luck would have it, Turkey Butt arrived home from his BMQ just as my Mama was packing up her vehicle to go. This was a wonderful surprise - a) because I missed him so desperately and b) because the Little Miss had just woken up from her nap and I hadn`t accomplished anything party related except for the decorating and the cupcakes. The Little Miss slept through most of the party:

It was her second one in as many nights (my childhood babysitter celebrated her 60th with a big surprise party the night before) and I think she was all partied out.
- Speaking of the Little Miss, she is changing and growing so much lately. She now waves and gives kisses (especially to her rubber duckies in the tub). She has started her first veggie (avocado) and is not a very big fan of it:

At all... The faces this kid makes, sigh! She is very quickly approaching the 5 month marker and she is just a delight to be around 95% of the time. Love. Her.
Anyway, those are a few of the things that have kept me from blogging much lately. I hope to get back into the swing of things this week perhaps. There may just be a recipe or a beauty product review in your not too distant future! This is my life!

Exhaustion.

Elodie is still screaming. Happy screaming, sad screaming, angry screaming. Sigh. I'm exhausted! I've been lucky enough to have Turkey Butt home more than usual the last few days but have his first weekend of BMQ quickly approaching.

I've been attempting to use Turkey Butt's extra time around the house to get a few things done. The main thing that I have been dying to complete is Little Miss Elle's bedroom. I'm happy to say that, aside from a few hours that I need to focus on organizing my craft supplies, I am almost finished. Looking around it today I am shocked to see how many ideas I picked up from Pinterest. Love Pinterest. I hope to be able to show everyone in blog land some of my Pinterest projects soon.

On top of Elodie's room, I have a very important birthday coming up! My very favorite (and only) sister in the whole wide world, the lovely Aych, is celebrating her birthday in 8 days. I have offered to throw her a little family birthday gathering and am loving the ideas I'm planning for it. Can't give anything away incase she reads this, but again, I love Pinterest. This is my life.

Jumping on the Yearly Recap Bandwagon

It seems to be a trend in blog world to end the blogging year with a nice little recap. So, no need for me to disappoint.

January - We had to put down our sweet kitten Rocco. We cried. I celebrated my 26th birthday in Cottage Country with Turkey Butt.
February - We found out we were expecting our little pumpkin on the 16th.
March - Celebrated our 1st anniversary at my in-law's very cold camp.
April - Turkey Butt celebrated his 27th birthday with a homemade ice cream cake.
May - Moved to a new apartment.
June - Found out that our little pumpkin is going to be a girl.
July - Went to the zoo.
August - Had an unpleasant run-in at work that led to a few days off of work - funded by Worker's Compensation.
September - Got beautiful maternity photos taken by RavenDawn Photography. Attended my first baby shower - and it happened to be my own.
October - Turkey Butt & I got hitched on the 1st. On the 18th we welcomed our Little Miss Elle into the world. On the 31st we celebrated our first Halloween as a family of 3 (+dog) with cuddling and horror movies.
November - Took holiday photos of Little Miss Elle for our Christmas cards.
December - Found our dream house and put an offer on it. Celebrated Christmas as a family. Officially bought our dream house - now we wait for the closing date.

All in all it was such a wonderful year. I feel so very blessed to have had such an amazing year! I can only imagine what will happen for us in 2012. Will be so hard to top 2011! This is my life!

As Promised...

... the dinky car track that I created for my cousin's 2nd birthday! Turkey Butt purchased a 4-pack of foam mats for his man cave/workout room/the shed at Wal-mart for $9.99. I swiped one to use as the base for the track. I also picked up a 4-pack of electrical tape (in 4 lovely colours) from the Dollarama and found the wooden trees in a random box at the local Used Bookstore. Sadly, this photo was taken before I stumbled across a pack of Transportation scrapbook paper in my craft area. Picture if you will little red, glittery, paper stop signs taped onto all the important traffic stopping intersections!

Let's tally up the cost of this project:

Foam Mat ------- $2.87
Electrical Tape --- $1.73
Wooden Trees ---$1.15 (I could've had 20+ trees for $2 but only wanted 4 and offered to pay $1 for them)
Stop Signs ------- Free (since the paper was bought years ago for a different craft project)

= $5.75 for a birthday gift for a 2 year old!

This is my life!

Happy Birthday Happily Ever After In Seattle!!

 I want to wish a very very very happy birthday to one of only two people who actually read my blog occasionally. Have a wonderful day of celebrations in your new home!

This is my life!

They Say It's Your Birthday.

Happy Birthday Aych

It's hard to believe that my little sister is 22! That really makes me feel old. Luckily I finished her scarf in time for the big day:



I even managed to beautify her store bought cake:



This was her cake choice, by the way! I would've loved to have baked her one had she wanted it. I must admit these are delicious. White pound cake with buttercream icing. Mmm. I did have to take off the ugly icing flower and replace it with a cracked Cadbury Creme Egg!!! And the Dollar Store candles always look great - til you light them. I see lots of cake in my future. I wonder how I'll follow my Mindful Eating Challenge when a plate of this is in front of me? Sigh, this is my life...

The Knitting Experiment: Day One.

As if my life isn't crazy enough working anywhere from 50 to 90 hours a week, I decided that I should knit my sister a scarf for her birthday. Now that may not seem like such a hectic undertaking to most of you, but you need to take the following facts into consideration.

a) I've only been knitting for a few months and one neck warmer is all that I've "created";
b) My sister's birthday is in T minus 14 days;
c) I WORK 50 TO 90 HOURS A WEEK!!!!

This is what I accomplished on a slow nursing home shift:



As usual, this is my life.